hot air

Do you have a hot air experience to share?

The colorful balloons are showing up in a variety of places. Bend hosted a festival back in early June. Tres & AJ tied the knot over the summer solstice weekend in one. And then there are the photos...

this one is from ffffound

Wanderlust?

Safe to say, I have officially fallen back in love with maps.

These dresses, designed by Elisabeth Lecourt, are perfect for wearing your heart on your sleeve and more.


found via black eiffel

Prize possession

Vintage map framed in gold found at the Ashland shop, Prize. For those of you nearby I suggest a visit. Perhaps the Summer Soirée scheduled for Friday, June 20th from 5:00-8:00pm? Champagne and Cupcakes will be served.

Otherwise, look for the Douglas Wilson prints at Keep Calm Gallery.

quote of the day

"Anyone who wants to can be surprised by the beauty or pain of the natural world, of the human mind and heart, and can try to capture just that– the details, the nuance, what is. If you start to look around, you will start to see."

Anne Lamott, bird by bird

Catch the Wind: A Presentation by Beau Bergeron

Inspiring example of "into me see" style.
More art with heart.

Found via Swiss Miss

this art has heart

The Reverse Graffiti Project


found via PSFK

I Want You To Want Me

File under old news but new to me...Design and the Elastic Mind is a Spring 2008 MOMA exhibit featuring this work. Visual presentation of harvested data allows us to consider how we connect, present ourselves to others and what we value when seeking relationship.

What do you think is the number one thing people look for on dating sites? The answer is in the video.

Kegerator Cruiser Crawl

The premise: You (in costume if you like) and your bike travel to a number of homes (this year six) with gracious hosts serving craft beer out of their personal kegerators. There is an hour (give or take a few mins) at each stop. Potluck dinner is shared at the final destination. Snapshots of what it looked like this past weekend:



top photo: bridge crossing















bottom photo: Rob's place, our fifth stop of the afternoon filled with bicycle maneuvers, craft beer and frequently comical conversation.



photos courtesy of smiley

BIG thanks to Dan for organizing and Colleen for mapping it.

new found love: tag galaxy

Very cool flickr visualization tool tag galaxy is a utility that allows you to type in a subject (for example: bike) and quickly see photos tagged with bike in flickr. Click on one of the images you like and up comes a link to its flickr page.

Tag Galaxy is a 2008 diploma thesis project by Steven Wood at Georg-Simon-Ohm University of Applied Sciences Nuremberg.

image via mashable, plus more info here

Maverick is an MTB bike, not a McCain

Number of times that U.S. media have called John McCain a "maverick" since 1995: 6,757

Percentage change between 2001 and 2007 in the number of instances per year: +76
Source: Harper's Index

On a somewhat related note, I was sent a link to this incendiary blog post last week...only for those with a sense of humor.

Just Grow It.

One of the benefits of growing up in a hippy-ish household was meals made entirely from vegetables grown in my dad's garden. Okay, so at the time it didn't seem too cool, "spaghetti squash AGAIN?" But it is one of those retrospective blessings I count from time to time.

Now I pay the premium whole foods price to get the goods sans genetic engineering, pesticides and over-processing. And things aren't getting any cheaper.

With the rising costs of gas, so too the grocery bills go up. What to do?


Solutions seem to be cropping up.



Community gardens and urban plots are gaining in popularity.

After declaring the urban gardening trend as well as taken note of the hipster farmer, trend aficionados PSFK recently documented one urbanite's commitment to the land in the form of urban allotments.

And for the more subversive there is the art of Guerilla Gardening.

So, quick review. Gas hits $4 dollars a gallon. People begin using public transportation, carpooling or biking to work. They also turn to gardening to decrease their grocery bills.

All of this sounds sort of, normal.

photo via web urbanist

what's your story?

Twitter has become my obsession du jour. Though I follow only fortysomething others, I feel a little more in the know, especially in the digital sea where innovation seems to be moving at quite a nice clip.

Bkkeeper is the latest twitter application to catch my eye. It allows you to track what you are reading, when you begin and finish a book, as well as mark those standout stanzas and "purple passages".

A quick trip to the site reminded me to buy Charles Leadbetter's WE THINK which will serve as my first bookmarked effort following the book's arrival next week.

First step: join twitter. Questions about twitter? You can check out the video presentation at the site. Then, follow bkkeeper directions here.

Sidenote regarding twitter, you can follow me here, I will probably follow you back and so begins another way to share.

quote of the day

"Once you can name something, you're conscious of it. You have power over it. You own it. You're in control."

–Robin Williams, not the comedian, author of design books like this one.

shared stimuli

Have a good story about how you spent your stimulus check? Share it at this site. Judging by the number of entries per topic it looks like a lot of folks paid down their debt, improved their homes & gardens or paid for new cars, gas or maintenance on older ones.

What did you do?

seasonal debut

oh pink peony, how I love thee...more peony love here

photo via flickr